1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a license management server for managing license, its control method, and its program.
2. Description of the Related Art
Until now, a number for uniquely identifying a printer, such as a multifunction peripheral (MFP), (hereinafter, referred to as “device number”) and a continuous copying speed (unit in pages per minute (PPM)) which determines a print speed of a printer have been set at the factory shipment.
A user who purchases the MFP installs software for further actualizing an extended function into the MFP to extend the MFP to an MFP on which a function that meets a user's need is mounted. The extended function is normally provided for the user onerously and the extended function with a mechanism for preventing abuse using a license is generally provided.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-180902 discusses a method for preventing an extended function of an MFP from being unexpectedly used in such a way that the device number of a device using the extended function is associated with the license corresponding to the extended function, as a mechanism for preventing abuse using a license.
In a case where a user demand concentrates in a printer with a specific continuous copying speed, it may be difficult to speedily supply a printer desired by the user. For this reason, there needs to be a mechanism capable of installing the license for setting the continuous copying speed when the user purchases a printer so that the continuous copying speed can be freely set even after the factory shipment. However, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2011-180902 does not consider license control related to the continuous copying speed being a basic function of printers.